


La Rivalidad

by Millie_Jean



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-15
Packaged: 2019-04-30 14:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14498667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millie_Jean/pseuds/Millie_Jean
Summary: What happens when you have two brilliant nerds who want to be the best of the class and also happen to think the other one is attractive as fuck?OrThe Prideshippig University/College AU that nobody asked for.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy so this is my first fic ever!
> 
> I had cravings for a prideshipping Uni AU and started thinking a few ideas and headcannons until it was something super huge and then decided to make it into an actual fanfic.
> 
> The title means "The Rivalry" in Spanish and it's also the title of a song by Charly García, awesome musician from Argentina (where I come from). This is not a songfic tho.
> 
> I will use the Japanese names and personalities because I hate 4Kids and their dub.
> 
> Also, I have plans to make this a very very long story. I won't have an updating schedule for now, but I will probably finish it.
> 
> Anyway, enough notes, enjoy!

Seto Kaiba arrived to his physics class. He was 15 minutes early, as always. There was no need for it, really, since he already knew most of the stuff that they were teaching him. Also his teacher was kind of insufferable and he didn’t enjoy very much his classes.

But when he decided that he would study at Domino University, he also decided that he would do it flawlessly. He would be the perfect student, who would graduate in record time, who would get the best grades ever. And that included arriving early to all of his classes. Even the ones he disliked.

At least Kisara was there too. Well, she would be in about half an hour. She was probably just now waking up.

But he was not alone in the classroom. There was another person who always arrived about as early as him.

_Mutou Atem._

Seto had mixed feelings for the guy. For one, he was actually pretty smart, almost as smart as himself. And that was annoying as fuck. He never shut up during class (neither did Seto, but he wasn’t _that_ annoying) and kept challenging his spot as the best student in his class. On the other hand, he was fairly attractive, and that frustrated Seto to no end. He hated that he enjoyed looking at Atem and his pretty face while trying to demonstrate that he knew more about physics than the boy with spiky hair.

As he started toward his seat, more students kept arriving, including Atem’s friend Otogi, who seated next to his dark skinned friend. He was also kinda pretty, but not Seto’s type. At least he didn’t talk much and wasn’t as obnoxious as some of Atem’s friends, like that blond idiot who always followed him and his twin Yuugi.

Half a minute after the teacher entered the classroom and closed the door, it swung open again, and sure enough, there was Kisara with a cup of coffee in her hands.

“Good morning, Miss Takuna. Please take your seat and let’s get started with today’s class” Said Pegasus J. Crawford, used to the common interruption of Kisara “not a morning person” Takuna.

“You’re early. Only half a minute after Pegasus arrived” Seto greeted his friend as she seated next to him.

“Fuck you. You know I don’t really get along with waking up this fucking early”

“Or at all”

“I swear to fucking God Seto, I’m going to fucking spill hot coffee all over you if you don’t shut the fuck up right now”

Not risking it, Seto limited his reaction to a small smirk. He knew Kisara well enough to challenge her before she finished her “fuck” phase of waking up. Well, she usually sweared a lot, but more than two fucks in one sentence meant she was still extra moody and would fulfill any threats she made.

“Well well, dear students. As you probably know, the final exam is not so far away from today! Only three months before the semester is over. So I thought I should give you a little something to work on so that you are thinking about this subject 24/7 until then.” He made a small pause when the class collectively groaned. They all hated the way Pegasus conceived time. “Oh, come on, it will be fun! You will work in pairs and answer a few simple questions that I will write right now on the board”

As their teacher wrote down the questions that would torture them until this project’s deadline, Seto started to worry. He disliked working in pairs. Not as much as working in groups, but still. He disliked it. He usually managed to convince his teachers to let him work alone. The first time he asked for it with a new teacher, the usual response was incredulity but then acceptance although sometimes a little reluctant. Then, after he got perfect score and surpassed all other groups, whenever a group project was assigned, he didn’t have to ask before the teacher told him that he could do it by himself if he wanted. And he always said yes.

But Pegasus was different. Seto wasn’t sure, but he had a feeling he would be forced to work with someone else this time.

He could always choose Kisara as his partner. She was smart and worked well. She didn’t take advantage of him just to put her name on the front page and benefit from a high grade that she didn’t work for. Unlike what most people did.

When Pegasus finished writing down the questions, he started speaking again.

“Well, you may copy them. I will explain them in a few minutes. Meanwhile, I will proceed to tell you who will you work with”

And that was Seto’s greatest fear. He didn’t even get to choose who to share his grade with. With gritted teeth, he listened to the pairs his teacher had decided to force on his students.

“Otogi Ryuuji and Takuna Kisara”

Huh. So Kisara wasn’t an option. But at least Otogi, Atem’s friend wasn’t too.

“Mutou Atem and Kaiba Seto”

No. No way. This wasn’t happening.

Mutou Atem!?

He had to work with _Atem_!?

There wasn’t a single chance that would end up being anything but an absolute disaster. They were too competitive with each other to collaborate and actually work together. He was sure he caught a glimpse of Atem looking almost as horrified as him.

Seto _had_ to convince Pegasus to let him do the work with someone else. Or alone. Surely he knew how smart he was. How capable. That he didn’t need _help_. Least from **_Mutou Atem_** , of all people.

As soon as Pegasus finished reading all groups, he didn’t let Seto take a chance at convincing him to let him do it… not with Atem before he immediately stated that

“These pairs are a final decision. I know some of you would like to have another partner,” Seto was certain that Pegasus glimpsed both him and Atem in that moment “but that will not be possible. Don’t try to convince me otherwise because I assure you, it will not work.”

Well. That was it. He had to get along with Atem long enough to get a good grade on this physics project. This was going to be a long second half of a semester.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooo that was it! First chapter!
> 
> As you may have noticed, English is not my first language, so there's probably a lot of mistakes. Feel free to tell me about them so I can correct them!


	2. Chapter 2

Atem didn’t know how to feel.

Right, he most certainly wasn’t expecting to be partnered with Kaiba, but he wasn’t sure if it was a pleasant or unpleasant surprise.

Like, the guy was smart. Very smart. Infuriatingly so. At least when he tried to show that he was smarter than Atem.

He usually didn’t care for competing over who’s smarter, he tried to think that everyone had their own kind of intelligence that could not really be compared to other’s. At least until Seto fucking Kaiba started challenging him every single class for who could be best at physics of them both. The truth was they were pretty much equals, but Atem wasn’t about to back down from a challenge. And that meant proving he was better than Kaiba.

Although that was going to prove a very difficult task, given that they would have to work together, and share the grade.

If he was honest with himself, the dark skinned boy had to admit that he was also kinda excited. Kaiba was, after all, a very interesting person, always alone except for that girl who sometimes was with him. But even then, although they seemed comfortable with each other, there was a distance between them that accentuated the loneliness that surrounded the son of the CEO of Kaiba Corp. That too was intriguing, what was the supposed heir of such a huge company doing at Domino University? Living in a common dorm amongst the other mortals? He didn’t bring attention to it, in fact, he tried to blend in as best as he could with the other students. He didn’t make a really good job because of all his bragging about how smart he was and how he already knew everything that they taught him. But at least he didn’t try to buy his degree with his immense fortune.

But anyways, it didn’t matter if wanted to do the project with Kaiba or not, he had to because their teacher decided it would be like that. Atem was fairly sure Pegasus did that on purpose. Maybe the banter the two boys shared in class actually annoyed him. Or he just wanted to fuck with them and wanted to see how long they lasted without killing each other. With Pegasus you never knew, the guy was so unpredictable. His classes were pretty good though, and usually his students learned a lot, somehow.

When Pegasus finished reading the pairs Atem and Otogi looked at each other. Atem knew his friend was trying to hide the amusement in his expression, but he might as well could have started laughing out loud.

“So… you’ll be working with Kaiba”

“Shut up”

“Hey! I didn’t say anything!”

“But you were going to. Please don’t”

“Well, I’ll be doing the project with his friend. Let’s hope that turns out right”

“Yeah, she seems cool. Wonder how they get along”

Their conversation came to a stop when Pegasus started explaining what they had to do. He read each question and explained briefly what they had to do. It didn’t look too difficult at first sight, but then again, you never knew with Pegasus. Atem was sure that the minute he started working on any of the questions, a simple task would generate a million doubts and become extremely difficult. At least they had like three months before the deadline. That was a dangerous thought though: if they left it all for the last minute they wouldn’t get anything done. But that wasn’t going to happen. Atem wasn’t a procrastinator. And neither was Kaiba.

After Pegasus finished explaining what they had to do, he told them they were good to go.

Atem hesitated in his seat for a few seconds. Should he go talk to Kaiba? The sooner they started, the better, but… did it have to be _right now_?

Seemingly Otogi was on the same train of thought, because he immediately heard his friend’s voice asking him the same question.

“Should I go talk to Kisara right now? If she has the same criteria for starting working on a project than for the time she arrives to class I’m screwed”

“Yeah, we should probably go talk to them”

So the two friends grabbed their stuff and approached their project partners.

Kisara was still grabbing her things and stuffing them into her backpack when Otogi walked towards her. Atem, though, had to catcht Kaiba near the door before he practically started runnig. He hopped it was the way he always left class and not a way to escape their conversation.

“Hey, Kaiba”

“What do you want?”

Well that was kinda rude.

“Um… I think we should… like… talk about how we’re going to work on the project. And stuff”

The taller boy gave and exasperated sigh and stared at him.

“Look, I work best alone” he deadpanned.

“Well… good for you, I guess. Unfortunately, you can’t, you’re stuck with me. So, should we meet in the library or…?”

“You don’t understand. I’m planning to do this on my own. I don’t mind writing your name and letting you share my grade, but stop bothering me.”

Atem blinked at him.

“Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Did you seriously think I was going to agree to that?”

“I don’t care, that’s what’s going to happen anyways”

“No fucking way. I won’t allow you to do everything by yourself. That’s stupid. It’s a **group** project for something”

“It wouldn’t be the first **group** project I do alone. Only this time I’ll let you share my grade”

“I won’t _share your grade_ , we will work together and share _our_ grade, Kaiba. Stop being so arrogant”

They held each other’s gazes for a while, then Kaiba let out another tired sigh and said

“Fine. We can split the questions. You do the first half and I’ll do the rest. But we won’t work together. Talk to me when you have your answers. Now leave me alone” and left the classroom, leaving a frustrated Atem wanting to kick his butt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, there goes chapter 2. Never thought that writing a thousand words would be that difficult.  
> Anyways thanks for reading <3  
> Also thanks to those who left kudos and comments, you are awesome <3  
> Remember, if you see a mistake, please tell me! I don't have a beta reader so it's just me revising it!


End file.
